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I'd recommend Wickham's Super Smooth soap as one of the most protective lathers and pretty much lathers under most conditions, so difficult to go wrong really.
I don't have a 34c but the fact that you're only getting good shaves with a feather blade (which is about the sharpest out there) makes me think it's your angle. If you're cutting with the blade at too high an angle relative to your face (e.g razor handle parallel with your face) then the blade is scraping across your face; imagine if the blade were 90 degrees to your face then that would cause a lot of drag and irritation. Now think of the blade almost flat on your face; that would produce the least resistance.
So you're aiming to get a low angle between the blade and skin which is achieved by raising the handle angle (i.e more to the horizontal). You can test this, raising the handle you'll get a closer cut but eventually the razor will be resting on your skin only by the cap and you'll lose contact with the blade. So you're aiming for the sweet spot where the cap only just prevents the blade lifting off your face.
Also make sure you map your hair growth and know which direction the hair grows on each part of your face. This will allow you to shave WTG, XTG and ATG correctly.
I would say most people would not recommend feather blades when starting up; they're just too sharp. I find them too sharp for me. Try something like an Astra SP.
It took me a good 6 months to get consistently good shaves, and in that time my skin adjusted to DE shaving. It's all about practice.
Shave on.
I don't have a 34c but the fact that you're only getting good shaves with a feather blade (which is about the sharpest out there) makes me think it's your angle. If you're cutting with the blade at too high an angle relative to your face (e.g razor handle parallel with your face) then the blade is scraping across your face; imagine if the blade were 90 degrees to your face then that would cause a lot of drag and irritation. Now think of the blade almost flat on your face; that would produce the least resistance.
So you're aiming to get a low angle between the blade and skin which is achieved by raising the handle angle (i.e more to the horizontal). You can test this, raising the handle you'll get a closer cut but eventually the razor will be resting on your skin only by the cap and you'll lose contact with the blade. So you're aiming for the sweet spot where the cap only just prevents the blade lifting off your face.
Also make sure you map your hair growth and know which direction the hair grows on each part of your face. This will allow you to shave WTG, XTG and ATG correctly.
I would say most people would not recommend feather blades when starting up; they're just too sharp. I find them too sharp for me. Try something like an Astra SP.
It took me a good 6 months to get consistently good shaves, and in that time my skin adjusted to DE shaving. It's all about practice.
Shave on.